How a small studio in Hillcrest became one of Southern California's most trusted addresses for rare and important books.
William began collecting seriously as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, spending most of a Rhodes scholarship stipend on a first-issue Steinbeck he still owns. After a decade in trade publishing — Knopf, then a small literary agency in Manhattan — he moved home to San Diego in 2010 and opened Monroe & Ashcraft the following spring.
He is a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and sits on the acquisitions committee for two university special-collections libraries. He teaches an occasional evening seminar on collecting for beginners at the San Diego Public Library.
"A rare book is not an investment. It is a friendship that outlasts the person who introduced you."
We do not rush appraisals, we do not rush estate work, and we do not push a book on a reader who isn't ready. Speed is where mistakes and regrets happen.
Where a book has been often matters more than what it is. We research quietly, we document carefully, and we walk away from anything that doesn't add up.
Most books should not be restored. When restoration is right, we introduce you to specialists we've worked with for years — and we tell you honestly when to leave a book alone.
We publish clear commissions, we don't negotiate against our own clients, and we never take payment from both sides of a transaction.
William leaves New York and opens the studio in Hillcrest with 240 books on consignment.
We help a private research library in Pasadena acquire a run of nineteenth-century California imprints.
Full membership in the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America.
We move estate consultations to careful, unhurried video calls and discover many clients prefer them.
The 2,000th book leaves the studio, on its way to a first-time collector in Oregon.
The studio is renovated top to bottom. The address, and the appointment-only philosophy, do not change.
Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm Pacific. Coffee is included; parking is easy; conversations tend to run long.
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Monroe & Ashcraft